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In Search Of A Bright Line: Determining When An Employer's Financial Hardship Becomes "Undue" Under The Americans With Disabilities Act, Steven B. Epstein

Vanderbilt Law Review

The employment provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act have been fully effective since July 26, 1994. These provisions require all employers with fifteen or more employees to reasonably accommodate the disabilities of job applicants and employees. Reasonable accommodation can be very expensive: one in every twenty accommodations now being made costs more than $5,000. Although the ADA permits employers to refuse to make accommodations that would cause an "undue hardship," neither the statute nor its implementing regulations provide meaningful guidance regarding how great an accommodation expense must be before the point of "undue hardship" is attained. Consequently, neither employers …